KaKa

Pennant plus cash for Milner would be too good to be true tbh. Pennant is miles better than Milner; something seriously wrong with Benitez's head if this is true.

Or possibly Benny realises there's something seriously wrong with Pennant's head.

Well he will soon find out there is a lot wrong with Milner's legs.

Villa knock back a £15mill offer for Barry fkn hell he is a decent player and has been getting better with some good games for England but 15 million.

 

England regular. Don't English players cost a lot of money?

 

We've no need to sell and Liverpool have behaved disgracefully throughout this sage, so I suspect MON is determined to make it as difficult and expensive as he possibly can.

 

I don't blame MON at all but I cannot see Pool bettering that offer, then its back down and sell him or put up with an unhappy player.

 

If Carrick and Hargreaves are worth £18m then Barry is worth at least £20m in my view.

I wouldn't say Barry is better than either of them, especially Carrick.

 

Barry is worth what we will accept for him.

 

We've got to go out and find a replacement, which - as we're not in the CL - is going to be difficult (a decent replacement, anyway). We've already got a miniscule squad, so losing one of our best players is the last thing we need.

 

That doesn't mean Barry is worth 20m or better than Player A or Player B, but there is the value of the player and the fact we're selling him to a team we're trying to catch up (and one which seemingly has a lot of problems so may become catchable at some point).

 

I'm glad MON is playing hardball, he's saying "this is how much we need him, this is how much you're going to have to give us for him if you want him, don't want to pay it? f*** off elsewhere".

 

In the past we'd have bent over at the first offer and let them have him.

 

Very true. I think it also has to be taken into account that he is your captain as well, I definitely think this should mean an extra few million should be paid. You not only have to replace a good player, but also your leader.

 

I know an excellent replacement for you guys, as he has prem experience and is British too and so is well accustomed to the league. He is currently incarcerated and might be for a little while longer but please don't let that put you off ...

 

 

 

Has Alan Smith been banged up n all like?

If only ...

Pennant plus cash for Milner would be too good to be true tbh. Pennant is miles better than Milner; something seriously wrong with Benitez's head if this is true.

This is someone who played Kuyt on the right wing all of last season.

There is a lot wrong with his head.

Villa knock back a £15mill offer for Barry fkn hell he is a decent player and has been getting better with some good games for England but 15 million.

 

England regular. Don't English players cost a lot of money?

 

We've no need to sell and Liverpool have behaved disgracefully throughout this sage, so I suspect MON is determined to make it as difficult and expensive as he possibly can.

 

I don't blame MON at all but I cannot see Pool bettering that offer, then its back down and sell him or put up with an unhappy player.

 

If Carrick and Hargreaves are worth £18m then Barry is worth at least £20m in my view.

I wouldn't say Barry is better than either of them, especially Carrick.

 

Barry is worth what we will accept for him.

 

We've got to go out and find a replacement, which - as we're not in the CL - is going to be difficult (a decent replacement, anyway). We've already got a miniscule squad, so losing one of our best players is the last thing we need.

 

That doesn't mean Barry is worth 20m or better than Player A or Player B, but there is the value of the player and the fact we're selling him to a team we're trying to catch up (and one which seemingly has a lot of problems so may become catchable at some point).

 

I'm glad MON is playing hardball, he's saying "this is how much we need him, this is how much you're going to have to give us for him if you want him, don't want to pay it? f*** off elsewhere".

 

In the past we'd have bent over at the first offer and let them have him.

Very true. I think it also has to be taken into account that he is your captain as well, I definitely think this should mean an extra few million should be paid. You not only have to replace a good player, but also your leader.

I know an excellent replacement for you guys, as he has prem experience and is British too and so is well accustomed to the league. He is currently incarcerated and might be for a little while longer but please don't let that put you off ...

Barry has always performed for Villa and has been a good servant to be fair. Probably just getting a bit anxious, as everyone around him will be telling him he should be going to Liverpool unfortunately, and he just wants to get it out of the way. Tough situation.

 

I've been saying this for ages - someone will back me up - so it isnt just sour grapes, but Barry went missing for a very large chunk of this season.

 

I also know for a fact that at the start of this year, his agents were putting feelers out to Chelsea. He's wanted to go for a long while.

 

 

Not saying he's been perfect, but over the years, on the whole, he has been a good player for you guys and pretty much your main man. He has been through some pretty rough patches with you lot too, and so now he is in the limelight a little bit, he might just feel it's time to try something different, especially as it seems to be a top 4 club interested in him. It's not like he is leaving to join Everton or Man City.

It is a sucky situation though, so I feel your pain brother. Be strong. Looks like you will be getting a pretty decent wad of cash for him at least.

f*** me if Milner and Shola leave, we'll making Villa's squad look huge.

 

I doubt it.

 

With seven subs next season, we currently can't fill 11 starting places and a full bench (assuming that fat arsed traitor fucks off to Liverpool)

Bit harsh on Barry isn't it?

 

No.

 

People assume he's been here ages because he's turned down loads of chances to leave. Two years ago he was about to join Portsmouth, the only real bid we've ever had for him. He was on the verge of going.

 

Then MON arrived, told him he'd make him an England regular (lest we forget, he was nowhere near the England side for five years), and lo and behold, he does just that.

 

Last time I saw Barry playing, he was wearing an England shirt and a captain's armband.

 

Then he gets the chance to leave and go and play with his bumfriend Gerrard, so we get the pathetic initial bid released to the press by Benitez, followed by Gerrard's disgraceful "please buy him, oh and by the way, no disrespect to Villa" bullshit, and then - worst of all - when we don't bend over and accept their first offer, Barry gets his agent to do the "please let him go, he needs CL football" routine in the media.

 

He's treated us with no respect whatsoever, and at the first chance has decided to jump ship to the team we're allegedly trying to beat into the CL places.

 

I don't often agree with the "player owes club" thing, but there is no doubt whatsoever that Barry at least allows us the dignity of not getting his agent to say those things in the media, at the very least.

 

 

Certainly hasn't been handled well by anyone involved really, and has got quite messy. Mostly Liverpool's fault though, extremely outrageous behaviour by them, and it really wasn't necessary either.

Barry has always performed for Villa and has been a good servant to be fair. Probably just getting a bit anxious, as everyone around him will be telling him he should be going to Liverpool unfortunately, and he just wants to get it out of the way. Tough situation.

I don't think one can read too much into the goal. He was given the ball in plenty of space, he was allowed to turn on to his stronger foot too easily and the shot looked to be heading for the keeper until it took a deflection.

 

Based on last night, he looks to me a bit of a gamble. It depends on our budget, and whether we can afford to take it.

 

He got the ball in basically the last chance of the game with his countries hopes of going any further in the competition riding on what he did with it.  Yet he was calm enough and confident enough (at 21) to take it on and get into a shooting position, and strike the ball very well (looked to be heading to the side of the goal to me as well).  Was it the best goal of all time?, no.  Would it have gone in without the deflection?, quite possibly.  Should it be downplayed either way? no.

 

The way I see it he played well despite being hindered by the conditions and scored an extremely important goal for his country, simple as that.  He definitely impressed me.

Well said.

Rafa really loves his negative football doesn't he. I can imagine he really loves Milners workrate and defensive work, as that is the one thing Milner is consistently good at. As far as any sort of quality going forward though, that is a once in a blue moon occurence from James. But compared to Kuyt he is probably an upgrade on that right wing, in the sense that Milner will at least look like a winger once in a while, whereas Kuyt offers nothing a winger should going forward.

Pennant is not marginally better than Milner, he is miles better as an attacking threat. I believe if Pennant is given a chance to play more regularly he will perform really well. Keegan will encourage him to express himself and he could flourish.

put engelaar in a worse team and he'll fail... didn't even make it in the Belgian league as it's more physical than the Dutch league... if he has to run, he's ****ed! some team is going to spend silly money on him after this Euro, it better be Schalke (who have his former manager Rutten at Twente)...

He only just started playing as a DM hence the success. He didn't make it in Belgium because he was still a striker.

Nailed on to be joining Schalke it seems so we don't have to worry about getting him or not.

Orlando Engelaar looked impressive the other day against Italy. He's a giant at 6'5 and looks good on his feet with the sight for a good pass and bravery to get stuck in.

 

Would like to see him in the centre of our midfield.

Well you never will.

Well at least it losks like our new setup is at least identifying players with some real promise.

 

Hadn't heard of Turan or Derdiyok before they were both linked, but they both looked like very promising and talented youngsters. Derdiyok for a 19 yr old looked like a serious talent and Arda is what 21?

 

Good stuff.

 

Deridyok I like loads. Really enjoyed his performance today.

Yup, might be a tad young and inexperienced to bring in in place of Viduka though.

Got some very nice attributes though. 6 ft 3, pacy and seemed to be very patient and composed and made some really good runs.

Intriguing.

Well at least it losks like our new setup is at least identifying players with some real promise.

Hadn't heard of Turan or Derdiyok before they were both linked, but they both looked like very promising and talented youngsters. Derdiyok for a 19 yr old looked like a serious talent and Arda is what 21?

Good stuff.

Turan seems ok player but i'd want better

Arda looks very interesting. Did everything right just then. Good goal.

Seem to have done a pretty decent job on the pitch at half time. Ball moving around a bit better now.

Kev is running his soccer circus this summer. He isn't allowed to get involved with transfers.

The weather might be a Godsend if we really intend to buy Turan. One less chance for him to impress.

Very, very true. In the opening moments of the game he already showed a decent amount and the commentators were beginning to focus on him and hype him up a fair bit.

That's all died down now as the rain has taken over.

God loves us tbh 

Can't even dribble with the water. Bloody annoying to watch.

Have we been linked to the bloke who got the assist then?

Yeah, Derdiyok is the 19yr old Swiss striker from Basel who we were linked with. Of Turkish origin too.

Derdiyok with the assist? Or the puddle?

The weather has really ruined this match. Bloody frustrating.

Getting into some great positions from that left hand side. Good movement around the pitch.

Arda also getting a chance to experience some premiership weather tonight. Doesn't look like he's fazed by it.

Turkey is playing the same formation we used towards the end of last season, with Arda playing on the left of that narrow midfield (where Barton was).

He is looking really good so far, in getting forward and also tracking back.

We might not have been in for him though.Could have all been a huge misunderstanding.

Hopefully ...